WO 2005/024881 A2 discloses a multiple particle beam system in the form of an electron microscopy system which operates with a multiplicity of electron beams in order to scan an object to be examined in parallel by way of a bundle of electron beams. The bundle of electron beams is produced by virtue of an electron beam produced by an electron source being directed to a multi-aperture plate which has a multiplicity of apertures. Some of the electrons of the electron beam impinge on the multi-aperture plate and are absorbed there, and another part of the beam passes through the apertures of the multi-aperture plate such that an electron beam is formed in the beam path behind each aperture, the cross section of which electron beam is defined by the cross section of the aperture. Furthermore, suitably selected electric fields, which are provided in the beam path upstream and/or downstream of the multi-aperture plate, lead to each aperture in the multi-aperture plate acting as a lens on the electron beam passing through the aperture, and so said electron beam is focused in a plane which lies at a distance from the multi-aperture plate. The plane, in which the foci of the election beams are formed, is imaged by subsequent optics onto the surface of the object to be examined such that the individual electron beams impinge on the object in focus as primary beams. There, they generate backscattered electrons or secondary electrons emanating from the object, which are formed to form secondary beams and are directed onto a detector via further optics. On said detector, each one of the secondary beams impinges on a separate detector element such that the electron intensities detected therewith provide information about the object at the location at which the corresponding primary beam is incident on the object. The bundle of primary beams is systematically scanned over the surface of the object in order to produce an electron-microscopic image of the object in the manner conventional for scanning electron microscopy.